A proof copy with something wrong in it sends most authors straight back to their files. Sometimes that’s right. But a file defect and a printing defect are different problems with different fixes — and KDP’s help pages draw the line between them more precisely than most authors realize. A problem that is in your file prints identically in every copy, and KDP says plainly that issues present in the manuscript file — its examples are typos, streaks, and blurry images — are not manufacturing defects. A problem that happened on the press varies from copy to copy: one book shifts, the next one doesn’t. This page is the sorting test: which bucket yours is in, and what each bucket’s remedy actually is.
What KDP counts as expected variance
This is KDP’s own table, from its help page “My proof or author copy has printing errors,” in plain terms:
| What you see | KDP’s position |
|---|---|
| Cover shifted, spine not centered, trim size slightly off — under 0.125″ (3.2 mm) | Expected variance. KDP’s allowable variance in shift and trim is 0.125″; two copies of the same book compared side by side can differ by that much. |
| Extra blank pages at the end of the book | Expected variance — a by-product of the print-on-demand process. Copies containing them are not eligible for refunds. |
| Extra white space at the inside margin (the gutter) | KDP adds about 0.13″ (3.3 mm) of white space at the bound edge of full-bleed color ink books to accommodate binding. It can appear even when your margins are set correctly. |
| Cover curling, or pages that look wavy | Not damage. Book paper is stored in a very dry environment and copies typically reach you within about 24 hours of printing; as the paper adjusts to normal humidity, the waves straighten out — KDP says within about a month. |
| Colors duller than they looked on screen | Not a printing error — a color-space mapping. KDP removes color profiles and re-maps out-of-gamut RGB colors to the nearest printable ones (see our RGB vs CMYK guide). |
| Your newest edits missing from the copy | Possibly a copy printed from your previous file: a print-on-demand copy that was printed and later canceled stays in inventory until sold. Check the printing date printed in the copy before assuming the upload failed. |
Anything on that list can be genuinely annoying and still sit inside the allowance. Refunds live on the other side of the line.
What counts as a real printing error
KDP’s damaged-copy page names the shape of it: “printing errors, such as shifting text or images that are cut off.” Its variance page adds the measurement: if your issue is outside variance — its example is shifting more than 0.125″ — or it isn’t in the table above at all, contact KDP and they will investigate. A copy that arrives physically damaged travels the same route. Two things turn it into a claim rather than an argument:
- The 30-day window. Contact KDP within 30 days of receiving damaged proof or author copies about a refund. Once more than 30 days have passed since the delivery estimate, the shipment is no longer eligible.
- Evidence. Photos of the defect are required — attach them in the contact form — together with the Product ID (the number under the barcode on the last interior page) and your book’s ASIN/ISBN.
Check it yourself — the sorting test
- Measure the shift. A ruler against the cover’s trim edge, or the spine text against the folds: is the displacement under or over 0.125″? That one measurement settles variance vs. error for the most common complaints.
- Look for it in your file. Open the exact PDFs you uploaded and zoom to the same page at print size. A streak, a blur, or a typo that is visible in the file is file-side — KDP will not class it as a manufacturing defect. Blurry in print usually traces back to the image’s effective resolution in the file.
- Compare two copies. If you have an earlier proof or a second copy: the same defect, in the same place, at the same size in both points to the file. A defect that moves, changes, or appears in only one copy points to the press run.
- Check the printing date. If the content looks like an older version of your book, find the printing date printed in the copy, near the barcode page at the back — a pre-update printing explains it, and no file change of yours is wrong.
- Verify the file’s measurements. Geometry, fonts, margins, bleed, barcode zone — the measurable file-side causes — can all be checked before you argue with anyone.
Want the file side ruled out properly? The free check reads your actual interior and cover PDFs — fonts, sizes, margins, geometry, barcode zone — and reports every finding in plain English, free within 48 hours. If your files pass all 13 checks, the defect is in the printing, and you’ll know the argument is with the press run, not your PDF. Get the free check →
How to fix it, by bucket
If it’s expected variance
There is no refund to win, so treat it as design information: the press is allowed to wander up to 0.125″, and good files are built to absorb that. Bleed exists precisely to soak up trim drift, and spine text needs its safe strip — spine width minus 0.125″ — because the fold itself can land up to 0.0625″ away from where the file puts it (see the spine text guide). On your next revision, pull important elements a little further from edges and folds, and the variance stops being visible.
If it’s a printing error or damage
Use KDP’s route, inside the window: Contact Us, under Orders & Book Copies → Proof and Author Copies. Attach clear photos of the defect in the first message — KDP requires images in order to request a refund — and include the Product ID from the last interior page and the book’s ASIN/ISBN. State the measurement if you have one (“cover shifted 0.19″ at the top edge”): a number moves the conversation past opinion.
If it’s your file
Fix the cause in the file, re-upload, and the defect disappears from every future copy — that’s the good news about file-side problems. The usual causes each have a guide in this library: soft images are an effective-DPI problem, washed-out color is an RGB vs CMYK problem, and art cut at the edge is a bleed problem.
The honest limit
Two limits, stated plainly. First, KDP judges its own variance line: a shift that measures 0.11″ will be called variance however crooked it looks on your shelf, and no formatting service can argue a press into refunding inside its published allowance. Second, print-on-demand means every copy is its own print run — one clean proof proves your file and one good run, not every copy that will ever ship. And our free check can only ever clear the file side of the line. If your files are measurably compliant and a copy still arrives wrong, that is exactly the case KDP’s 30-day route exists for.
Or send us the files — the check is free
Email your interior and cover PDFs and we'll tell you exactly what's wrong — in plain English, free, within 48 hours. If it does need fixing, the by-hand fix is $19 and we redo it free if KDP rejects it for a formatting issue we were hired to fix. We rebuild files to be compliant with KDP's published spec — that's the promise we can keep.
Prefer the whole library in one file? The KDP Rejection Field Guide (free PDF) collects every guide, table, and the 13-point checklist.
More from the Help Library
- The KDP & IngramSpark Help Library — all guides & tools
- “Manuscript has errors” — the generic rejection, decoded
- Bleed error — the 0.125″ that absorbs trim drift
- Spine text error — the 0.0625″ fold shift, explained
- RGB vs CMYK — why print colors look washed out
- Images below 300 DPI — effective DPI, explained honestly
- The free rejection check — all 13 checks at once